Facade of Naulakha Palace, Gondal

The 18th century Naulakha Palace at Gondal is one of the oldest palace in this town.  It has a beautiful sculpted facade. 

The palace has magnificent stone carvings with balconies, a pillared courtyard, delicately carved arches. 

The facade of the palace is carved with sculptures of real and mythical animals. 

Veera Narayana Temple, Belavadi

Veera Narayana Temple located in Belavadi is an ancient 12th century temple carved in soapstone. This temple comprising of three shrines was built during the rule of the Hoysala King Veera Ballala II.

In this temple with unique architecture each  of the three shrines has a complete by itself with tower on top of the shrine. Among the three shrines, two of the shrines face each other and are located on either side of a wide and spacious open hall with thirty seven bays.

The central shrine is much older and its inner walls are plain with well decorated roof. In all, the temple complex has fifty nine bays that is exhibited by many pillars. While most of these pillars are lathe-turned and bell shaped, some have decorative carvings on them. 

The outer wall of the temple has many eaves running around the temple. Below this are miniature decorative towers on pilasters. A panel of Hindu deities and their attendants are below this eves followed by a set of five moldings that form the base of the wall.

All shrines have sculptured decoration on the towers, and the sculptures on the walls are bold and are visible from a distance. These beautiful sculptures represent various forms of deity of the temple.

Brick Monastery, Udayagiri

At Udayagiri, the Buddhist site in Orissa, ASI have excavated many interesting structures that were created any time between 7th and 12th century. One such excavation has brought to light the remains of a huge monastic complex comprising a Mahastupa and an east facing square monastery.

This monastery has the mountains as its backdrop giving it a majestic look. The monastery measures about 35 M sq. and had 21 cells.

At the back-end of the courtyard, in the sanctum there is a huge 12 feet statue of Buddha in Bhumisparsha Mudra. On his either side are Vajrapani and Padmapani.

The door frame to the sanctum is beautifully carved. The detailing with flying apsaras, pupil climbing vines, elephants are simply beautiful. The eyes, nose and lips of a miniature human forms are crafted with at most care.

Parvati Temple, Kurudumale

At  Kurudumale there are many temples that are known for their architecture and spiritual importance. Here  Ganesha Temple and Someshwara Temple are very ancient.

Parvati Temple is one of the ancient temple here that is very simple. The temple was closed when we were in this place. 

However, we could see the deity from the window.

Great Masjid - Qutub Shahi Complex Hyderabad

Great Mosque in Hyderabad is one of the grandest masjid in the city. It is popularly known as the great masjid of the Golkonda tombs.

This beautiful masjid is next to the tomb of Hayat Bakshi Beguminside inside the Qutub Shahi Tomb Complex. It was built in 1666 A.D. by Hayat Bakshi Begum's son, the 7th Sultan Abdullah. 

The architecture has a distinctive style that blends Persian, Pashtun and Hindu forms. The Prayer Hall is 76 feet wide and has three bays which are 51 feet deep. The front has a five arched facade. 

Fifteen cupolas decorate the roof and the prayer-hall is flanked by two lofty minarets. The inscriptions in the masjid are in calligraphic art. 

Rani Sipri's Tomb, Ahmedabad

Rani Sipri's Tomb is located in the old area of Ahmadabad within the same complex as Rani Sipri Mosque. It is one of the ancient monuments that has a combination of Indo-Islamic architecture.

Constructed some time in 16th century the tomb has a large dome in the central part surrounded by 4 small domes in the 4 corners. The tomb has screens made of stones have been carved beautifully.

Kadari Manjunatheshwara Temple, Mangalore

The Manjunatheshwara Temple at Mangalore on the hills of Kadri is a popular temple. It is very old temple, but the present structure built in complete stone dates to 14th century.

The temple has various statues of Gorakanatha, Machendranath, Shringinath, Manjushri, Lokshewara and even Buddha apart from Lord Manjunatha. 

In front of the temple, at an height there are a number of water ponds and there is also a huge light pole. 

There is a natural spring at an elevated location at the back of the temple. The water from this spring is let into nine ponds of different sizes adjacent to it. 

One visiting this simple temple can have a good time in the serene and calm surroundings.

Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

The Veerabhadra Temple in Lepakshi has been built on a low altitude hillock of a large exposure of granite rock. This 16th century temple built by Virupanna Nayaka and Viranna, both Governors under the Vijayanagar Empire.

The architecture of the temple is that of Vijaynagar Style of that period. The main temple is laid out in three parts: the assembly hall, ante chamber and the sanctum. The assembly hall is a large sized open hall with a large space in its central part.

On the pillars and walls there are carvings of saints, guardians, musicians, dancers and 14 avatars of Shiva. Every pillar is of different style and shape. The open space in the middle part of the hall has large columns which have carvings of triple figures.

The temple also has a hanging pillar which is a medieval architectural wonder to witness. Out of the seventy pillars, this one pillar does not rest on the ground completely but hangs in the air, with enough space between its base and the ground to pass a sheet of paper through it.

On every corner of the temple one can find either carvings or paintings.

Buddhist Caves, Junagadh

Buddhist Caves in Junagadh, close to the mosque inside the Uppekot Fort is fine example of Buddhist rock cut architecture of 2nd century A.D. These caves are on the eastward slope leading to the Adi-chadi Vav. 

These caves are scooped out in three tiers from surface downwards, with all members of each gallery shown in semi-relief. There are three rock-hewn chambers, each open to the skies. The caves feature many monastic meditation cells.

Only two of the stories have regular floors. The main hall of the lowest storey is partly open to the skies and contains exquisitely carved pillars, whose base, shaft and the capital contains unique decorative designs. 

The pillars, having spiral ridges on their shaft, octagonal plinth bases and floral ornamented capitals with animal figures etc, represent the main Satvahana art traditions on one hand, and in the exotic, Grecco-synthian trends on the other hand.

There are still some traces of beautiful carvings in the cave that is built across several floors.

Bellibagilu,Shravanbelgola

While one climbs up the Indragiri Hill at Shravanbelgola there is a fort enclosure. From the structure it looks like this fort might have been built during the 18th century or it  might have been renovated around this time.

The fort enclosure has a gate known as the ‘Bellibagilu’ meaning Silver Gate. In one of the literary works of 1780 A.D.  the gate has been referred by this name.

Pandava Caves, Aravelam

The ancient Caves in Aravelam is must visit place for history buffs. These 6th century caves are small that have 5 compartments. The Buddhist monks have carved these caves out of a single hard laterite rock. 

These caves are also known as the Pandava caves as it is believed that Pandavas have stayed here at some point during their 12 year exile as described in the Mahabharata.

At a later period these caves have been converted to shaivite caves. 

Shivlings carved out of granite of different shapes and sizes have been placed in each of these caves. These Shivlings are placed on raised platforms.

Rang Mahal, Ellora

We have already seen details of Kailasa Temple of Ellora in the earlier post. This 8th century temple has strong architectural influences  of Pallava and Chalukya styles.

Within the enclosed courtyard, there is a flat-roofed main shrine dedicated to Shiva, and an image of his mount Nandi. The rectangular main shrine is called Rang-Mahal because after its completion, the temple was plastered and painted. 

The temple has niches, plasters, windows as well as images of deities and other figures. The 7 meter high plinth is decorated with life size elephants and mythical animals.

The two storey main shrine has Vadys Mandapa, Nandi Mandapa, a pillared hall, an antechamber and a small sanctum surrounded by five subsidiary shrines.

The pillared hall is supported by 16 pillars each with different set of carvings on them.

Boganarasimha Temple, Devarayan Durga

The rocky hills of Devrayan Durga near Bangalore is surrounded by forest. The hill is dotted with several temples and at the at the foot of the hill is Boganarasimha Temple.

This ancient temple is of the Chola period and has been renovated recently. This temple enjoyed the patronage of many kings from various dynasties and also is well known for its simple but beautiful architectural marvel. 

Lord Narsihma is main deity of this temple and The idol of Goddess Lakshmi devi  is also seen here. The temple has beautifully carved tower. Also adjacent to the tower in the temple is beautifully carved sculptures showing various avatarts of Lord Krishna.

Charminar, Hyderabad

The Charminar in Hyderabad, is a historic monument as well as mosque that is visited by tourista all over the world. The ruler of the Qutb Shahi dynasty Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah built this magnificent structure in 1591. 

It is part of old city and was constructed at the intersection of the historical trade route that connects the markets of Golkonda with the port city of Machilipatnam.

It is built using Indo-Islamic architecture style, incorporating Persian architectural elements. It is constructed using limestone, mortar and marble. It is a square structure with each side having 66 feet wide grand arches in the four directions. There are 149 winding steps inside each of the minaret to reach the upper floor.

The minarets at each corner are exquisitely shaped with three storeyes rise  to a height 0f 56 meters. Each minaret is crowned by a bulbous dome with dainty petal-like designs at the base. 

The mosque is located at the western end of the open roof; remaining part of the roof served as a court during the Qutb Shahi times. The interiors of the dome is beautifully carved. 

The clock on the four cardinal directions was added in 1889. At the base of Charminar there was originally a water cistern at the center with a small fountain. The every inch of the structure is beautifully carved.